Themes of bio detailed

Themes of Biology (11)

1. Unifying Themes of Biology

2. Core Unifying Theme: Evolution
•The overarching theme of biology.
•Evolution accounts for the unity and
diversity of life (next theme).
•Evolution accounts for the match of
organisms to their environments.
•Charles Darwin proposed natural selection as
the mechanism for evolutionary adaptation of
populations to their environments.

3. Heredity
•The continuity of life depends on the
inheritance of biological information in the
form of DNA molecules.
•Genetic information is encoded in the
nucleotide sequences of the DNA.

4. Diversity and Unity of Life
•There are millions of different species of
living things on earth.
•The continuity of life is based on DNA.
•Biologists classify species according to a
system of broader and broader groups.
•All of life is connected through its long
evolutionary history.

5. Structure and Function
•Form and function are correlated at all
levels of biological organization.
•The form of a biological structure is directly
related to the function of that particular
structure.
–A change in form = a change in function

6. Cells
•Cells are an organism’s basic unit of
structure and function.
•The cell is the lowest level of organization
that can perform all of the activities
required for life.
•Cells are either prokaryotic or eukaryotic.

7. Emergence
•All organisms have structure and are well-
organized.
•New properties emerge at each level in the
biological hierarchy.
•New properties result from interactions
among components at the lower levels.

8. Interdependence
•Systems and Interactions
–Separate parts work together as a whole
–Nothing exists in isolation
•Organisms interact with their
environments, exchanging
matter and energy.

9. Regulation
•Organisms must maintain stable internal
conditions.
–Conditions within normal range
•Feedback mechanisms regulate biological
systems.
•Feedback is a type of regulation common to
life at all levels, from molecules to the
biosphere.

10. Energy Transfer
•All organisms must perform work, which
requires energy.
•Energy powers all life processes.
•Energy flows through organisms and
ecosystems.

11. Nature of Science
•Science is a process of inquiry or a way of
knowing about the world.
•The process of science includes
–observation-based discovery,
–testing of explanations (controlled experiments),
–hypothesis-based inquiry,
–theories that provide broad explanations.
•Ideas change with new data.

12. Science, Technology, and
Society
•Many technologies are goal-oriented.
•Biological research is applied to reach
many goals.
–Medicine
–Agriculture
–Warfare
–Machine design

13. Great Theories of Biology
•Cell Theory
•Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
•Gene Theory of Inheritance
•Germ Theory of Disease
•Abiogenesis